


Closer Than Home

by maplesoup



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alive Petra Ral, Alternate Universe - No Titans, Crime Fighting, Eren Is a Little Shit, Eventual Fluff, Hero Worship, Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin) Swears, Levi/Eren Yeager-centric, M/M, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi Are Related, Older Mikasa Ackerman, Organized Crime, Original Special Operations Squad | Squad Levi, Plotty, Rating May Change, Servant!Armin, Servant!Eren, i'll probably add to the character list as i go on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-28 22:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6348376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maplesoup/pseuds/maplesoup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Crime brews in Sina, the capital of Wallhind and the Ackerman clan are called upon to fight it.<br/>Levi takes Eren as his servant and Mikasa goes undercover with Armin. </p><p>Mostly this will focus on Eren as he adjusts to a new, more formal household.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Impeccable

**Author's Note:**

> hhhh ok this is my first fic for the fandom and I haven't written fic in general for like years so I hope you enjoy this! please let me know what you think~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE SHIGANSHINA TRIO TIDY UP THEIR HOUSE  
> EREN'S REALLY EXCITED BECAUSE HE'S GONNA SEE LEVI  
> yup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDITED: some sentence pruning and reshaping. also some italics. love me some italics.   
> ALSO I KEEP FINDING MISTAKES IN MY WRITING????

Eren slammed his head against a half-cleaned wall. He and Armin had been overworked for the entire week, mostly due to his own tendency towards disorganisation, but partly due to Mikasa not giving them a sooner warning. Eren decided to lay the blame on Mikasa. The head of the Ackerman household was to visit them tomorrow, and she hadn’t thought to mention it to _either_ of her personal servants until five days ago. Hardly enough time for them to bring her town house up to Levi’s impeccable standards. Everything had to be spotless. No detail was too small for Levi to overlook. Unfortunately for Eren and Armin, the only details they could deal with were the bigger ones - the smaller ones were too many and too overwhelming to deal with. Mikasa had tried to assist them for maybe half a day before they told her to go sit down.

 

“This is our job as your servants, Mikasa,” Armin had reminded her. “I know you prefer to think of us as your equals within the privacy of these walls, but really the truth is that you’re not as accustomed to domestic activity as we are.”

“Basically you’re just getting in the way.” Eren had stifled a yawn, not bothering to look up from his dusting.

Mikasa had shrugged but accepted the dismissal. She was a fighter, not a housekeeper, and she was perfectly comfortable with that. Most of the time.

After all, her skills were practically legend across the land and that lent itself to a certain degree of privacy via a veil of the townspeople’s fear. Not that she cared about that at all. Mikasa didn’t care for much, at least not outwardly. If you asked Eren, he would probably pin it down to something of a family trait. If you asked Armin, he would say that Mikasa only cared about matters concerning Eren. Either way, neither of them would be entirely sure why she was the way she was, but were still satisfied to call her their mistress. She was fair-minded, level-headed, and as minor nobility went, pretty damn relaxed.

Eren glanced at the wooden clock which shined proudly upon a freshly-dusted mantle. Dinner time. As he plodded down to the scullery, questions and keen musings puddled their way through his mind, some of which he spoke aloud.

“Soup tonight? No, we did that last week...”

“Why is Levi visiting Mikasa? He’s never done that before.. Should I be calling him Mr Ackerman now that he's succeeded his uncle?”  
“Maybe Armin could pick some herbs from the garden. He always picks the best..”  
“Cheese board! Haven’t done one of those for a while. It’s getting a bit cold though.. Maybe a stew?”

A knock on the door made pause in his thoughts.

“It’s just me,” Armin said. “What’s on the menu today, chef?”

In all honesty, the two of them were equally competent in the kitchen, but this week was Eren’s turn.

“Simple lamb roast? It doesn’t take too long to cook and we still have some herbs to pick before the cold gets to them.”

Armin nodded. “Sure thing. Rosemary and thyme?”

“Not the thyme,” Eren drummed his fingers on the countertop. “But grab some rosemary. We’ll cook it with garlic too.”

“Roger that!” Armin grinned, ambling back out of the kitchen as quickly as he’d come in.

Upon his return, Armin found that Eren had been surprisingly productive for once -- he’d prepped their workspace, chopped the vegetables, and had begun to boil some potatoes.

“Nervous?” He plopped the freshly-picked herbs down near the lamb, peering over Eren’s shoulder.

“I’m not nervous!” Eren sputtered.

“Oh I seeeeee.” Armin raised a brow, leaning over a washbasin to clean his hands. “Of course you’re not nervous, silly me! I mean it’s not like the week we’ve spent doing extreme-cleaning because of Levi or anything.” A small grin twitched onto his face.

“You don’t understand! Levi is.. is.. He’s just!” Eren stirred the potatoes with a wooden spoon and made expressive gestures with his face. “You have to meet him to understand!”

“Suuuuuure.” Armin stripped rosemary leaves from their stems and into a small pile. “How can you be sure that you’re not just over-reacting to romanticised childhood memories, Eren?”

The wooden spoon clacked angrily against the bench.

“I’m not over-reacting!” Eren realised the irony of his actions too late. He cleared his throat. Then, almost inaudible beneath the burble of boiling potatoes:  
“You’ll see.” he said. Nothing more, nothing less. Armin didn’t understand how important Levi was, how he helped Eren when he and Mikasa lived back at the main house in Sina, how he cared. Too many times Eren got into fights as he grew into a teenager. Almost as many times Levi had stepped in and cleaned things up before they got too bad, even going so far as to seek private medical attention for Eren if he had needed it. Granted, Levi’s intervention had wounded Eren’s pride far deeper and more often than he would have liked to admit as a proud fourteen-year-old, but as Eren matured he came to understand that he would be so much worse off if it weren’t for Levi.

 

“Shitty brat,” he used to say. “You would think that you’d learn to stop picking fights after getting beaten up so badly each time.”

Eren grunted stubborn words back initially, then reluctantly grateful ones, and eventually some which were reasonably witty.

 

“ _I’m not a shitty brat.”_

_Levi wasn't surprised at Eren’s first fully-formed statement, spoken when rescuing him was beginning to become a habit._

_“You’re a brat and you shit,” He pointed out as the bullies ran out of earshot. “So you’re a shitty brat.”_

_“Whatever.” Eren grunted, drops of blood welling on the tip of his nose and falling to the dusty ground with a quiet ffp._

 

Sometimes Levi would speak first.

 

_“Get up, brat.” No hand was offered, no fond smile. “I’m taking you to see the doctor.”_

_“No.” Eren stayed put. “He can’t know.”_

_“Why the fuck not?” Levi glared. “Say something about manly pride and I will kick your shitty teeth in.”_

_“I’ll get in trouble with my mum.”_

_“Is your mum the doctor or some shit?”_

_“No. My dad is.”_

_Levi pinched the bridge of his nose, said nothing._

_Eren fidgeted, still sitting on the ground._

_“All right, brat. I have a plan. Let’s go.” Levi turned to go without a second glance. “Do as I say, or it won’t be pleasant.”_

_“Where are we going?” Eren leapt to his feet to tail him._

_“A friend. Don’t ask them questions unless you want to die.”_

_The boy was confused but chose to keep quiet for once._

_Levi took him to see Hanji, who was training to be a medical specialist at the time. They were ecstatic to get some hands-on experience, and Eren’s parents never found out that he had been fighting. A win-win situation all around._

 

Damn if Eren wasn’t excited to see his childhood hero again.

 

And Levi was only one night away.


	2. The Opposite of Early

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Levi arrives at Not-The-Agreed-Upon time.  
> nothing much really happens?????

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes so chapter 2 is a thing now -- hope u have a party party time reading it even tho it's kinda short?  
> also i do not have a beta yet? so if anyone would like to volunteer themselves up as titan bait please inbox me or drop a comment to let me know!  
> thank you~  
> EDITED: more sentence reshaping.

Dinner was.. tiring.

 

Mostly they went over the list of chores that had to be completed before Levi arrived. The task of cleaning the rest of the windows and walls was assigned to Mikasa, final dusting and wiping to Eren, polishing and tidying to Armin, and a finishing scrub of the floor was agreed to be done together. For now though, they all sat together in the sitting room. Mikasa sharpened her knives, Eren carved wood into a falcon shape, Armin read a book, and the fireplace crackled. Occasionally Armin would ask Mikasa about difficult words. He was surprisingly literate for a servant, a trait which he was eternally grateful for. From the early stages of his servitude to Mikasa, she had encouraged his curiosity and aided his learning with her privilege, sneaking books and notes to him from her private tutoring sessions. Eren’s education was of equal calibre but less enthusiastically received than Armin’s -- after all, the primary manservant of the Ackerman family heir had to be well-read and able to manage the household’s paperwork. In some ways, Mikasa was like a mother to the two of them, providing a roof over their heads, providing them with education, taking in Armin when Eren wanted a friend. In other ways, the boys were like a mother to Mikasa, doing majority of the cooking and cleaning, making sure that the household ran smoothly, sewing ripped clothing as frequently as required. All in all, the three of them shared a master-servant relationship which was unconventional but worked perfectly for them.

 

“Hey Armin, when did Le- Mr. Ackerman say he would be arriving again?” Eren asked, dusting his wood-shavings into a small pile with his hand.

“Early tomorrow morning, I think.” Armin said, not looking up from his book.

Before Eren could say thank you, he was interrupted.

“I wouldn’t trust that estimate.” Mikasa said. “Levi tends to be over-precise.”

“It doesn’t really matter as long as we get all the cleaning done before he gets here, right?” Eren set down his chisel, anxious.

Mikasa said nothing.

Armin read his book.

The fire crackled.

Rain drummed against the windows.

_Brrrriing!_

 

The servants jumped, turning panicked glances towards each other.

“Go get it then,” Mikasa shrugged.

“We haven’t finished the cleaning!” Eren whispered, agitated. “There’s a pile of wood-chips on the table!”

“Whose fault is that, Eren!” Armin hissed back. “You clean up your mess, I’ll get the door!”

“No! I want to open the door!” Eren all but stomped his foot.

Mikasa and Armin fought the urge to roll their eyes.

“Fine!” Armin made to clean up the Eren's mess. “Just hurry up.”

 

The sight that greeted Eren at the door was not Levi.

“Good evening,” he blurted, running on autopilot. “How may I be of assistance?”

The sight that greeted Eren at the door was _not_ _Levi_.

“Good evening.” The shorter blonde female seemed more concerned for Eren than her own drenched state. “Is this the house of Mikasa Ackerman?”  
“Yes,” he said.

 _Where’s Levi?_ Eren was internally screeching. _Where’s Levi??_

“He’s coming.” The woman explained kindly, unmindful of how loudly her coat was dripping on the doorstep. “He sent me ahead of our convoy to notify you that he’s arriving earlier than expected.”

“Wha-” Eren gave a start. “How-”

“You said that aloud,” Petra smiled, almost giggling. “Shouldn’t it be Mr Ackerman to you?”  
“Oh, um. He kept an eye out for me when I was a kid.” Eren cleared his throat. “Would you like to come in?”

 

For the rest of their exchange, he zoned out. Petra was offered a seat and tea. How could Eren pay attention to anything when Levi was going to be there so soon? Perhaps Mikasa found it easy to engage in small talk with Petra while Armin diligently provided supper, but there was no way that Eren could sit still. None. The man that they had been working to impress was almost at their doorstep! It had been years since he and Armin had moved out to Mikasa’s town house with her, years since he had seen Levi. The six years between them had seemed insurmountable back then, but now Eren was confident that he would be seen as a man, as an equal rather than a shitty brat.

 

As it turned out, there was only so long that Eren could fidget for until he grew bored of it.

  
“Didn’t you say he’d be here soon, Petra?” Keeping the whine out of his voice was about all he could manage. “It’s almost been an hour.”

“A lone horseman can travel a lot faster than a group of them,” Petra sipped her tea. “Don’t worry. He’ll get here.”

“If you say so,” Eren huffed through his nose.

“Eren, manners.” Armin reminded him. Because Mikasa was so relaxed about etiquette with them, it was too easy for them to forget about formal manners of address when serving other members of the nobility.

"Armin, don't tell me you're not worried about how _late_ it's getting," Eren fired back. "The roads can get quite dangerous after dark."

Armin pursed his lips, his face saying: "I see where you're coming from but that was still really rude. Maybe you should apologise to Petra." Sometimes silence spoke louder than words.

“It’s fine, Armin.” Petra smiled kindly. She did that a lot. “We of the Ackerman clan are quite relaxed on etiquette. Mikasa’s not unusual in that sense.”

“Oh thank goodness,” His shoulders visibly lowered by half a handspan, tension and a breath leaving his system. “I was worried that Eren was being quite offensive.”

Before Eren could shoot him a dirty look, the doorbell rang again and he bolted to answer it.

 

_Levi._

 

The sight that greeted Eren at the door was Levi.

 

Eren could hardly breathe.

 

The sight that greeted Eren at the door _was Levi_.

 

Levi was not soaked so much as he was damp in that soggy state of not-quite-dry-from-being-in-the-rain.

 

“Hi,” Eren said. “W-”

“Move.” Levi brushed past him without a second glance. “Where’s Mikasa?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of CTH, let me know what you think! i really do appreciate it ::)
> 
> also, i've actually written a few chapters ahead of this so i'll try to post regularly? but this year is a big year of schoolwork for me so i'm sorry if i do struggling.


	3. Mr Ackerman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a lot of plot, a little bit of fluff.  
> eren flails, levi explains a thing, armin is an agony aunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaand i keep posting these up earlier and earlier but i figure, ay, heck, why not! thanks for reading!

Surely five years wasn’t long enough for Levi to have forgotten who he was.

Surely five years was long enough for Eren to have grown into a man capable of living alongside Levi.

Surely five years wasn’t long enough to change anything.

Surely five years had changed everything.

 

Levi hadn’t changed much since Eren had last seen him; he still had the same coarse way of speaking, the same haircut, the same bland expression that he always wore. At the same time, Levi had completely changed since Eren had last seen him; his posture was more guarded, more predatory, his grey eyes both sharper and more jaded than Eren had ever known them to be. Perhaps the most insignificant detail was the most significant of all; Levi seemed shorter. When Eren had left, he was only barely taller than the older man. Now the difference between them was almost an entire head’s height. Somehow this only made Levi even more lethal as he sat in the armchair which Petra had left in favour of sleep. The rest of his squad had quietly taken care of their riding gear and, with Armin’s assistance, let themselves into the guest rooms to retire for the night. While all this went on, Levi settled himself into the sitting room with Mikasa, who sent Eren to fetch tea and biscuits.

 

“So what brings you all this way, Levi?” Mikasa leaned back in her armchair. “With your squad as well.”

“Not your charming company, that’s for sure.” Levi clenched his jaw against a yawn. “Trouble’s stirring in the capital.”

“What kind?” Bored, said her tone of voice. Intrigued, said her slight shift forwards in her chair.

“The organised sort.”

“Local mafia are incompetent,” Mikasa said. “Surely the Garrison could take care of it as they always have.”

“No.” Levi crossed his legs. “This is a new group. I’m surprised you haven’t already heard of them. They call themselves the Titans and there’s strong evidence to suggest that they’re responsible for the recent outbreak of crime all across Wallhind, not just in Sina.”

 

Before Levi could continue, Eren rattled in with a trolley moderately loaded with their nicest tea-set and a tray of cookies.

“Thank you, Eren.” Mikasa nodded her acknowledgement.

Levi fell silent under Eren’s expectant peering.

A beat fell. Levi wasn’t going to say anything. Eren tamped down the disappointment squeezing his chest.

“Very welcome, milady.” He bowed and excused himself from the room.

 

Levi uncrossed his legs and continued as though nothing had happened. “Cole-mongering is the foremost of their crimes. For now, the Military Police are unsure how far the counterfeit money has travelled, but they intend to employ a Scouting Legion to go undercover.”

“A whole legion?”

“Yes.” Levi explained the necessity of these actions; while undercover scouts were risky, they were the best option -- at least while operations were in the early stages. Information could be gathered without raising suspicion, and the public peace could be maintained. A simple plan. All they had to do was flush out the ring leader and the whole thing would resolve itself.

“What do you need me to do, Levi?”

~~~~~

Armin was sitting in the kitchen with Eren.

“I don’t understand!” Frustrated feet paced courses around the benches, the fireplace. “He just brushed me aside, no greeting, no name-calling, no nothing!”

“Calm down,” Armin yawned, giving up on the book in his hand.

“No!” He turned sharply. “There has to be a reason.”

“But does there?” As amusing as Eren’s antics could be, there came a point where enough was enough. “I think you’re making this more complicated than it is.”

Eren huffed. “But-”

“You said it yourself. Sometimes he just comes across harshly.”

“You’re right as usual,” Eren slumped in his chair, tired from the nervous adrenalin which had finally stopped consuming him. “It’s getting late.”

“But you want to stay up and talk to him,” It almost didn’t need saying.

Eren shrugged, exasperated. “It’s been five years.”

A kind of halfway silence sat between them. Eren’s fingers drummed against the countertops, the pages of Armin’s book whispered under his returned attentions, the fireplace sputtered in its hearth.

 

Eventually, the two of them drifted off sitting on the floor and leaning on each other; Eren had been intent on keeping a vigil, Armin was content to keep him company. It wasn’t as though they had an early start the next day or anything. As they slumbered, Mikasa caught glance of them through the doorway, a weary smile breaking her frown. As endearing as their sleeping forms were, her servants rarely made good first impressions upon anybody; partly it was the relaxed formality of their household, but their personalities didn’t exactly ooze with charisma either. Eren’s energy had a tendency to escalate quickly, causing him to come on too strongly; Armin had the opposite problem. His intelligence, combined with a surprising amount of bravery and a very strong moral compass, often led him into trouble with people with less appreciation for the pursuit of understanding.

 

The rest of the night passed. No surprises, no loud sounds, no ghosts. Simply peaceful sleep slipped into nearly everybody’s eyes. A certain corporal who rarely caught more than three hours of sleep found himself silently padding through the house. People always wondered how he managed to spot the one uncleaned spot in their house whenever he was over, but really there wasn’t much else for him to do late at night. By this point he would usually have finished his stacks of paperwork, and lounging around felt too stagnant when the midnight air thrummed with silence. Besides, there was no harm in making sure that mildew wasn’t growing anywhere. Mildew was the worst.

 

After making sure the living, sitting, and dining areas were all clear, Levi made his way to the kitchen. Steam released from cooking could provide the optimal moisture for mouldy vermin to cultivate. He slunk down the stairs and into the kitchen and found Eren and Armin snoozing by the dying embers in the fireplace.

One of them was snoring quietly as he crept around the kitchen on his quest for cleanliness.

“Brats,” he thought. “They’ll catch cold and get their sneezy illness goo all over me. That just won’t do.”

Levi remembered seeing some blankets in the cupboard two doors over from the last room he’d inspected, so he retraced his steps and returned to the kitchen with a large blanket tucked in his arms. Carefully, gently, silently, so as not to wake them, Levi wrapped the two servants as snugly as he could without risking his heartless image.

“Tch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we will try to go back to saturday posting because these posts are catching up on me very quickly and i have to maybe work on school things. just maybe.


	4. Work to Be Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thE JOURNEY IS BEGINNING GUYS THE PLOT IS STARTING TO ROLL (quick catch it before it's gone)  
> Levi tells Eren what his job will be, and Eren gets quite frazzled. Maybe I should tag this for hero worship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all enjoy this chapter -- i'm actually working on a second fic right now! it's a high-school au where levi is a visual arts student and eren is a triple-threat performing arts kid. i'll put a link for y'all in the chapter notes next week so keep ur eyes peeled for that ::0

Armin woke up first. Confusion opened his eyes. Soft warmth held him closely on his front but biting cold nipped at his back.  
“Hey,” He nudged his friend. “Eren, we fell asleep.”  
Eren groaned. “Not awake.”  
“C’mon, it’s morning.” Armin stretched, rose to his feet. “Levi might still-”  
“Awake!” Eren yelled, bolting upright. The edge of the bench had left a mark on his cheek.  
“-be around if you hurry.”  
“Cya later Armin!” And like that, he was gone -- around the corner, out of sight, crashing footsteps echoing down the corridor. 

_Levi._

Eren could hardly breathe. Maybe if he hurried he could be Levi’s wake-up call (or so he believed). Stone floor thudded under his heavy footfalls which all but skidded around the last corner. He stopped in front of the door which separated him from Levi, paused to catch his breath, straightened himself out.

“Sir?” He knocked twice.  
“Come in.” Levi’s smooth voice sounded like a finger running down his spine. Eren shivered, and stepped into the room. The voice’s owner sat at his desk, rifling through stacks of paperwork.  
“Good morning, Captain.” He bowed slightly, wondering when and why his formal behaviour had set in around Levi.  
“Eren,” Levi leaned back in his chair. “Good. Now I don’t have to send for you.”

Confusion welled inside Eren, his thoughts racing too quickly for this simple interaction -- Was Levi being intentionally formal by calling him ‘Eren’ instead of ‘Brat’ like he always used to? Or maybe, hopefully, did this mean Levi finally saw Eren as a man? Why did Levi need to see him? Was he in trouble? Did Levi just want to see him? 

“Hm. You’ve become a typical Neanderthalic teenaged boy.” Levi set down the sheaf of papers with a gentle _thwack_. “Anyway, there’s work to be done.”  
“What-” Eren’s voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “What kind of work?”  
A smirk glanced across the corporal’s face. “Your work will more or less be the same duties as you carry out here, but instead you will be working for me.”  
“Are you moving in with us?” Eren was gobsmacked.  
“No, brat.” Levi all but rolled his eyes. “You’re coming back to the Sina house with me.”  
“Oh,”  
“I can see you’re thrilled to get packing,” Levi crossed his arms.  
“No- I mean yes! I mean-” Eren sputtered.  
“Spit it out, I don’t have all day.”  
“Uh,” Green eyes screwed shut in concentration. “What about Armin and Mikasa?”  
“They have their assignments, which are different from yours.”  
“What are the assignments for?” Eren asked, “Why do we have assignments?”  
“Trouble is brewing. Now get out, I have work to do.”  
“Y-yes sir!” Eren saluted Levi before stumbling out of the room.

“Shitty brat.” Levi muttered to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was too damn early to think about how to deal with Eren. The brat was obviously desperate for his approval, recognition, his attention, anything from him. Responsibility somehow weighed upon his chest. Eren was no longer the little shitstain he used to be, no matter how much his bright-eyed and bushy-tailed nature hadn’t changed. He was almost a man.

Almost everything physically about him had changed -- he had grown impossibly taller, his face had sharper edges from lost puppy fat, his shoulders had grown broader. Of course, absolutely none of this hit Levi in the gut last night when Eren had greeted him at the door. Of course not. That would have been embarrassing. Imagine, humanity’s strongest being forced to flee in the face of attraction. The notion was ridiculous.

Levi rested his chin on his hand. These thoughts would have to wait. He had work to do.

~~~~~

In the kitchen, Armin had begun breakfast prep. With five extra mouths to feed, he had a monstrous task ahead of him. Porridge would be the easiest choice, but these people were from the main house. Even though they were accustomed to travelling and eating the rough of the road, he still had to impress. Bread and pastries were out of the question; he’d woken  up far too late to bake fresh. Fruit was a possibility but he supposed that Levi’s squad would be hungry after riding for so long.

Loud footsteps slapped Armin from his thoughts.

“Hey Armin, what’s for breakfast?” Eren said, almost too nonchalant.  
“That’s the problem,” he said. “We have a standard to uphold, but at the same time we didn’t plan ahead far enough to give them something nice like pastries.”  
“We made too much food last night, right?” A large pot sat upon the stove, a sure sign that there was still food inside. “And even if they’re hungry, they probably won’t want to eat too much if it’s relatively rich food, right?”  
Armin hesitated. “Is it really okay for us to serve leftovers?”  
“For breakfast on such short notice?” Eren shrugged. “I don’t see why not. If we make a thin stew with it then nobody will be the wiser. It’s not like they were here for dinner last night anyway.”

For once, Armin had no better ideas.  
Eren sliced last night’s lamb into bite-sized chunks while Armin heated stock and vegetables.

“I have to admit you have moments of brilliance, Eren.” Armin said, gently stirring the mix with a wooden spoon.  
“You’re still a lot smarter though,” Eren pointed out. “Not just book smart either.”

Armin shrugged, too embarrassed to say anything. He knew that silence was okay between them as well.

Breakfast prep continued without a hitch, and soon enough there were eight steaming bowls of light stew and a tea-set on the food trolley, under a cloche and ready to be served. Armin rang the meal bell as usual, Eren wheeled out the food, and the both of them set out the places on the heavy wooden table.

~~~~~ 

Mikasa was the first to sit down.  
“Smells good.” She acknowledged, settling at the head of the table.  
“Thanks,” the two of them smiled.

Petra came in next, followed shortly by Eld.  
“Wow!” Petra clasped her hands in front of her chest. “The attention to detail is amazing!”

As they sat, Gunther and Oluo came in and took the places opposite Petra and Eld. Now there were three empty seats at the other end of the table.  
“Welcome,” Armin greeted. “We hope you enjoy breakfast today.” 

“Good.” A smooth voice appeared from nowhere, sending a shiver down Eren’s spine.  
“G-Good morning Captain!” He stammered.

Levi took the seat opposite from Mikasa, leaving one place either side of him. “What is this?”  
“It’s uh,” Eren struggled to think of a glamorous name for stewed leftovers.  
“Morning stew.” Armin supplied. “It’s lighter than ordinary stew.”

Levi said nothing.

“There are two bowls left on the trolley,” Petra noticed. “Are they yours?”

Eren and Armin nodded.

“Don’t be shy,” she smiled kindly. “Join us! You made this after all, right?”

The two boys grinned, took the seats on either side of Levi, and tucked into their food. Amicable quiet rested over the table as everyone ate. 

“I take it the three of you have been told your assignments?” Eld asked.

Eren and Mikasa nodded.

“Assignments?” Armin set his spoon down. “What for?”

Eld looked to Levi, who was sipping tea from a cup he held by the rim.  
“Trouble,” he said. “You’re going undercover with Mikasa to gather intel.”

“Oh.”

“Wait,” Eren piped up. “I thought he would be coming to the city with us.”  
“Afraid to be alone with me, brat?” Levi sneered.

“No!” He said, perhaps too loudly.

“Tch.”

~~~~~

Eventually the situation was explained to Armin, the dishes cleared away, and the horses readied to head back to Sina.

Mikasa volunteered to do help clean the dishes so that Eren could pack and despite her inefficiency with housework practicality won out, much to Armin’s dismay.

 

So this was it. 

The time had come for their household of three to disband.

 

Eren could hardly wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those of you who are wondering what a cloche is, it's one of these doodads! http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/restaurant-cloche-open-lid-28333194.jpg 
> 
> i didn't actually know what the name for them was until i wrote this fic, fun fact. writing is cool because learning and research. it's a good time.


	5. No Stopping Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eren travels with the levi squad and the gay babies finally have some chats but levi's like, emotionally constipated, so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo so i haven't updated for 2 weeks bc i've been hella busy and this hasn't been edited, to the best of my knowledge BUT i'll try get back to posting on weekends

The air buzzed.

Bags had been packed. Horses had been readied. Farewells had been said. 

 

It was time. 

 

Eren, after some difficulty, had managed to mount the horse designated to him and was happily trotting to the front of the group where Levi was. 

“Move out!” Levi ordered, nudging his horse into a trot. The convoy tipped into motion and the journey began. 

“Captain!” Eren called out.

“What do you want?” Levi fought back a weary sigh. “We’ve barely started moving.”

“Uh, it’s a great day to be travelling, don’t you think?” Even though Eren really wanted to talk with Levi, he hadn’t thought ahead to what he would actually talk about. 

“No.” 

“W-what?” Eren stammered. “But the sun is high and the skies are clear and-”

“Shut up, brat.” Levi didn’t bother looking at him. “You’re getting on my nerves.”

“O-okay.” Eren pulled his horse to the back of the group to find Petra. Petra would talk with him. Sensible, kind-hearted Petra. 

 

For the rest of the day, Eren enjoyed small-talk with Petra. How long the journey would be (“Two or three days,”), what the main house was like (“It’s changed quite a bit since you’ve left, Eren. It’s a lot less stuffy, or so I’m told.” Petra herself had only entered the Ackerman household one year ago), who was in charge of servants (“Shardis is still running the show. He has a lot less hair now.”), even squad gossip (“Everybody  _ knows _ Oluo is gay, but of course he won’t admit it.”). Sometimes other members of Levi’s squad would pull up beside them and join in, regaling Eren with tales of their adventures -- the times they chased criminals down streets on horseback (“Petra almost fell off her horse!” Gunther cackled when she slapped his arm, embarrassed.), the misadventures Hanji frequently dragged them into for the sake of “research” (“Why did we agree to being tied up anyway?”), the best and worst meals they’d eaten together. 

 

Soon enough, the late morning changed into late afternoon. Countryside greens had long since given way to cobbled greys, and wooden trees had been exchanged for wooden buildings. Yellow candles were already burning in some windows, curtains already pulled shut. 

 

“Is this where we’re spending the night?” Eren asked.

Petra shook her head. “This is just a stop for water and a quick break before we push on. Sina is just a couple of hours’ ride from here.”

“Oh,” 

Levi gave orders to pull over at the tavern around the corner and regroup in an hour. Everyone stabled their horses then broke off into small groups in search of a quick meal. 

“Eren, do you want to come with us?” Petra offered. 

“Nah, I’m okay. Armin packed a dinner for me.” Eren offered a grateful smile. “Thanks though.”

“Sure,” 

The stables were empty after Petra left. Quiet settled in the air, gentle whinnies filling the silence. Eren brushed down his horse as it drank from a well-used trough. 

“You’re doing really well today, you know.” He murmured. “It must be hard, just carrying people everywhere on your back for hours on end. Don’t you get bored? I’d get bored if I didn’t have Petra to talk to, though I suppose ideally I would rather be talking to Levi..”   
Eren sighed. “But I don’t think that’ll be happening any time soon. Ah.”

Pressure was building in his gut. “They said the outhouse was behind the stables, right?” 

Eren’s horse said nothing. 

“Yeah, they did. Okay I’ll be right back. You gotta wait for me, okay?” Eren nodded decisively and marched around the back of the stables. 

 

The outhouse was occupied. 

Briefly Eren wondered if the occupant how far the occupant could hear. The walls looked thick enough, but going by the stench there were probably a reasonable number of cracks through which they could have heard him rambling to his horse. 

 

Eren sighed. “I guess it could be worse.”

 

He scuffed his boot in the dirt, whistling tunelessly. The outhouse door swung open. 

 

“Oh, it’s you.” Levi was wiping his hands with what appeared to be a colourless oil. A faint floral scent wafted up to Eren’s nose. “Are you stalking me?”

 

“No!” Eren said, perhaps too forcefully. “I just really have to pee!”

 

Levi snorted.

 

“What is that?” Eren blurted, heart lurching. “On your hands, I mean.”

 

“Sterilising oil.” Levi stepped away from the outhouse, door thwacking shut behind him. “Hanji made it.”

 

“Oh,” Eren frantically scrabbled for something more to say as Levi turned away. 

“Whyhaveyoubeenignoringme?”

 

_ Shit.  _

 

Levi froze. “What?”

 

“Um,” Eren cleared his throat. “I said, why have you been ignoring me?”

 

Silence sat in the air as Levi considered his answer. Eren tried to look calm but internally cursed his poor timing -- he still needed to pee. Really badly. 

 

Equally, Eren desperately yearned to know why, even though they had been so familiar all those years ago, Levi had barely acknowledged his presence. 

 

“Piss.” 

 

Eren blanched. “Huh?”

 

“Go,” Levi rolled his eyes. “We’ll talk after you’ve taken care of your bladder.”

 

“Ah,” Understanding dawned, and Eren shrunk into the outhouse. 

 

Well. 

He bolted the door shut.  _ Thunk. _

Fabric rustled. Water splattered against the bottom of the latrine. 

Outside, Levi coughed.

Eren managed not to blush as he emerged from the outhouse. 

 

“Hold your hand out.” Levi said bluntly. 

Eren did so, and Levi poured a large drop of oil onto the offered hand. 

“Thanks,” Eren pulled his lips into a sheepish smile.

“Germs are fucking disgusting.” Levi tucked the bottle into his pocket. “Wipe your hands together and make sure they’re covered.”

“Yessir!” Eren grinned.

“Some things never change.” Levi tucked his hands into his pockets and looked away. “So,”

“Oh right,” Eren’s face fell slightly as he remembered why Levi was still there. “Right.”

“You think I’ve been ignoring you.” 

“Yeah.” 

“You’re mistaken. I haven’t been ignoring you,” Levi’s gaze shifted back to Eren, driving straight into bright green eyes. “I’ve been avoiding you.”

 

~~~~~

 

Eren slumped into his new bed. It smelled wrong. When the order had been given for them to all retire to their rooms, he had just assumed that he would sleep in the servants’ barracks at the back of the castle, just as he always had before moving out with Mikasa. As it turned out, Levi’s rooms happened to have a connecting suite and the man himself requested that Eren move into it. At least, that’s what Hanji had told him. She had cornered him before he’d even unloaded his horse. So here he was, lying in a foreign bed with only a door separating him from Levi’s personal rooms. 

 

Eren had never been more frustrated in his entire life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll try get back to regular weekend postings \0/


	6. A Brat's Dignity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha oh my goodness it's been ages  
> i forgot about this for a while and as it turns out, chapter 6 was partly written! 
> 
> so. since i planned everything out ages ago.. enjoy?

Levi’s head landed on his desk with a thunk, papers lying abandoned near his hand.   
“That brat…” he muttered. “Too fucking dumb for his own good.”

Footsteps clattered over themselves. Someone yelped. Skin slapped against the cold stone floor. Levi turned around to see Eren flat on the ground, grumbling in pain. He pursed his lips in distaste.   
“Are you alright there?” The words sounded far more sarcastic than he felt. “On the floor.”  
“Sir!” Eren stumbled to his feet. “Yeah, I mean-”  
Levi raised an eyebrow.  
“Y-yes - I’m fine, th-thank you Sir,” Eren stammered.   
Levi nodded curtly and noticed how green Eren’s panic-stricken eyes were -- Since when did they get so green? How on Earth did they always shine so brightly? Fuck. Levi caught track of his thoughts. He swallowed and turned heel before anything else could be said.  
“Except for my dignity,” The words were muttered, so quiet that Levi almost didn’t catch them.   
“What?” Levi whirled around to see Eren blushing. Hard. 

Levi rubbed his hands over his face. The longer he spent around the brat, the more he noticed -- shadows of stubble on his jaw, small scars and calluses on his hands, the almost too-tight way his clothes hugged his body. It wasn’t just the physical changes that caught him off guard either; Eren seemed more in control of himself than when he was younger, and that made Levi proud.  
These thoughts were really getting out of hand.  
‘Get a grip, Ackerman,’ he scowled. ‘You’re not a clumsy teenager anymore.’  
Eren would be the end of him.

For now, Levi had to get on with his work. Deadlines were fast approaching for official approval to start up the Scouting Legion. Erwin, of course, was the mastermind behind the idea, but even he needed help pulling all the threads together. Usually this help came in the form of Hanji and Levi’s labour, but sometimes things got big enough that their squads got pulled in too; this was one of those times. A spy network requires connections, and connections require people. It only made sense to bring the inner circles of their existing systems into the network. 

By no means did Levi ever consider himself a paper pusher, but at this stage of preparations there was very little justice for him to deal out. It left him with itchy feet, unquenched desire thrumming through his veins, a need to get outside. Although he was small, although he spent a great deal of time inside, although far too much of his time was taken up by business travel and paperwork, Levi was born to be free. His muscles ached to be stretched, to be pushed to their limits. He was made to roam and explore, to run and tumble, to drift. Some might argue that he was made for more than this, more than paperwork that stretched for days; Levi couldn’t really care less. His work mattered, made some kind of difference in this imperfect world. 

He stretched in his seat. Maybe he would work out in the training yard once his work was finished. Hanji might even join him for a run while he was at it. They probably got out even less frequently than he did. Contrary to what their darker complexion might suggest, Hanji had even more work to get done than Levi because of all the science experiments she ran each week. 

A quiet knock on the door pulled Levi from his reverie.   
“Enter.”  
Green eyes peered in through a crack in the door. “I-”  
“Did I fucking stutter?” Levi picked up a pen, feigning nonchalance. Of course the brat would come in now of all times.   
“Actually,” Eren stepped into the room, rambling. “Your articulation is really great, has anyone ever told you that before?”  
Levi blinked. How did Eren always come up with this shit? He cleared his throat. “Close the door behind you. This isn’t a tent.”  
“Ah, yessir. But actually, how do you pronounce your words so clearly? Do you something cool with your tongue or like, have special exercises you do in the mirror every morning?”   
“What do you want, brat?” Levi leveled a pointed stare at Eren, looking him straight in the eye. 

~~~~~

Eren flopped onto his bed which still smelled wrong. It could have gone worse, he supposed. Night was far from falling, unlike Eren. He buried his burning face into his pillow. 

“You weren’t supposed to hear that,” Eren blurted.   
“I figured.” Levi drawled. “Was I also not supposed to remember you falling?”  
Eren blushed harder.   
“Tch,” Levi turned to walk away again.   
“Only for you,” Eren muttered again.   
Levi’s ears burned pink.

How much dumber could he have sounded? He tossed his pillow at the stone wall with a resonating fwap and an exasperated groan.  
“UUGGHHH!” Eren rolled onto his back. “Seriously Eren, exactly how much dumber could we have sounded? Maybe like, a pinky toe more dumb.”  
He sighed. “Now I really sound dumb.”

Little did Eren know, but the sound travelled through the door connecting his rooms to Levi’s, where the corporal himself happened to be sitting at his desk and trying desperately not to smile. Levi couldn’t resist.

“You really do,” He called out. “It’s kind of astonishing.”  
Eren bolted upright. “You can hear me?”  
“Obviously.” Levi smirked. “These walls aren’t that thick.”  
“Oh,”   
“Unlike one of us, it would seem.”  
“Hey!” Eren surged to his feet and tugged open the connecting door. “I’m not thick!”  
Levi, shit eating grin and all, was leaning back in his chair with the airs of having his feet up on the desk. He wouldn’t actually do that of course -- too many fucking germs. “I never said you were.”   
Eren promptly blushed then slammed the door shut, retreating back into his room.

He wondered why Levi would want him in the connecting room -- neither of them had much privacy due to the lack of soundproofing. Ostensibly, Levi had told him it was because of the germs (“The servants’ barracks are filthy. There’s no way I would let you sleep there and then traipse around my personal rooms. That would be fucking disgusting.”) but Eren knew for a fact that they both knew that the servants’ barracks were spotless. Maybe it was an apology for avoiding him at Mikasa’s house? 

It was going to be one long afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! please leave comments if there is anything you would like to see from our gay boys~~

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading~


End file.
